Gardeners World - What a shame

[Chumpfriend]

Am I being unreasonable to think that Gardener’s World has jumped the shark?

It’s honestly a travesty of what went before and in no way makes anyone with a modest garden feel capable of creating a garden or delivers any meaningful advice.

There are BBC tropes and messaging rammed down your throat and literally nothing that relates to any ordinary gardener at this time of year.

The Beechwood Garden is a shadow reference to the old GW but I’m so disappointed at such a lost opportunity to make people feel like they can have a go at growing stuff.

Geoff Hamilton may be turning in his grave.

What specifically are you referring to? I haven't seen tonight's episode yet.

Tropes and messaging?? Like what?
Can’t say I agree.
Think there is plenty of inspiration for ordinary gardeners. Some of it is always going to be aspirational.

Oo a fellow Geoff Hamilton fan. 😊
Did you ever visit Barnsdale gardens? I went back in the 90’s and they were fabulous and inspirational.

I still watch it, but I’m sick of them visiting these fuck off massive walled gardens owned by rich people who bought their huge houses decades ago. Yes, I’m jealous, but constantly talking about gardens on a stately home level isn’t terribly helpful to me.

I would much rather they focused on average bods who have a normal sized garden who want tips for stuff to put in pots, what would be good at the front/middle/back of small flowerbeds, what grows well in sunny flowerbeds and shady ones and how to take cuttings from what you already have to make new plants.

They do visit the odd small viewer’s garden but if does feel rather like they’re visiting some weird novelty outlier with an ‘even you could grow tiny crap plants in an old paint tin like Dave and Karen if you only have a dismal back yard’ type comment’

I know what you mean OP, and I can remember when it was presented by Percy Thrower. 😂 Alan Titchmarsh was the last 'proper' gardener. It's all gone downhill ever since. Including the theme tune.

Shiny and new1 God yes, I quite enjoyed the lockdown filming when we got to see 'normal' gardens.

I agree it is increasingly unrelatable.
Not sure what you mean about tropes and messaging.

It was better during COVID when real gardens were featured. It needs a refresh I think.

They need to do things, and follow through, and make it for normal people.

'i sowed these 2 months ago'...oh nice of you to mention it now, thanks for that.

I got sick of GW about a decade ago, the same bloody plants the same weeks the same huge gardens and the same pretend shit that Monty pretends to do when he has a team that does it for him.

Can you be specific and clear

“ jumped the shark” wtf does that mean?
“shadow reference” “ tropes” ???

jobs for the weekend are all good advice as was the seedling planting

i dont have a shed with 4 different riddles in it nor do i have troughs of different types of soil nor do i have a jewel garden or a woodland glade but i love seeing all that

if its specific info you need just google it , gardeners world is a v relaxing 30 mins and maybe some tips or inspiration may resonate with you

lol I am watching it and it’s so overcomplicating EVERYTHING

As a professional; I say there’s two types of plants. Ones which want to live and ones which don’t.

Theres also two types of clients. Ones who watch GW and ones which don’t. You can guess which ones are a horror to work for 😂

As my old tutor used to preach ‘do you think x evolved to be pruned with a secateur specifically to x pattern on x month? No it got eaten or trampled sporadically. So do not stress young ones 😅 this plant has two choices.’

@pimplebum , Jumping the shark - Wikipedia

"we've only got 2 acres" has probably never been said on GW, but it's what goes through my head every time they send a full film-crew to some mansion set in the countryside.

It became a life-style programme a decade or so ago.

I tried to watch (again) this season and managed about 2 minutes. It drives me mad. I am not a fan of Monty and have been watching GW since I was about 10 years old (with Geoff H) so he isn't going to tell me anything new.

I think it's like the gardening magazines. If you buy an entire years worth, then everything after that is just repeated year after year.

plus really annoying presenters

I love it- obviously in a minority!

I only ever saw it at mum's house when Monty Don was on

Then she stopped watching it because she said there was a whole bunch of extra presenters and it lost the kind of relaxing "let's just watch some gardening"vibe. She did learn a lot of interesting things from it but I think that was in the past

She also liked the presenter before Monty Don, but I don't know who that was

Anyway, I ditched the BBC because I was tired of everything having an agenda and it sounds like this show has it too now.

I'm another one who loves it! I prefer when Monty presents, but don't mind the others either. Prime relaxation on a Friday night!

Didn’t expect much response - thought it was just me.

To answer questions,

‘jumped the shark’ is a reasonably well-used phrase used to describe when a series has gone beyond its original purpose/focus. Originates from Happy Days when The Fonz - Henry Winkler - literally jumped a shark.

So the tropes I was referring to were the environmental, wildlife, weeds are good. We’re gardeners, we are literally redefining nature , but hopefully in a positive way. But the ‘just dig up your self-seeded primroses and replant them in amongst the native plants (weeds)’ seemed utterly out of touch and irrelevant to most people.

it would be a much better idea to tell people how easy it is to grow your own food and flowers and give them money saving ideas of how to do it.

Don’t get me started on the theme tune 🙄🤣

I love Monty Don

I would just like some ideas I can replicate along with some clear ‘how to do its’. Like Geoffs Belfast sinks covered in some imitation stone!

it would be a much better idea to tell people how easy it is to grow your own food and flowers and give them money saving ideas of how to do it.

I now imagine a gardening programme along the lines of Sort Your Life Out. I would watch a gardening show with Stacey Solomon 😁 can you imagine how much she'd piss off Monty?! He'd be seething.

I stopped watching about 18 months ago. It’s got very samey- now it’s time to plant verbena/sweet peas/potatoes/do the Chelsea chop etc. I do like the big show garden stuff but I find that’s better in a separate programme like the ones Monty Don has done in Italy, America, then Middle East etc. I loved the one he did on Paradise Gardens.

I was only in my early 20s when Geoff Hamilton died but I learnt so much from him. I’d love to know more about how to design a border, how to use a colour wheel, what goes with what etc. instead there’s a couple of gay guys from a big house near Brighton with Hawaiian shirts on talking about their tropical plants about six times a year which isn’t going to teach me much for my postage stamp sized garden in the constantly rainy north west is it?

The bit that makes me cross is when they’re all at the Chelsea flower show and you never get more than 4 seconds of any garden before it’s back to the presenters gassing away. I would like a lot less talking and far more time devoted to showing us the gardens.

I literally started out with a rubbish garden and learned a lot from GW. We used to call Geoff Hamilton ‘Coir Geoff’ in our house because he was preaching the unfashionably green options when they weren’t a thing.
And they’d show seasonal things you needed to be doing rather than perfectly formed gardens of 20 years standing.
I just think it’s such a lost opportunity to educate and inspire as it did me.
I don’t think gardeners are that involved with GW.

As a novice gardener, thank you for this!